1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image transfer system and an image transfer method, and more particularly to an image transfer system and an image transfer method wherein an image is transferred over a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various facsimile apparatus are conventionally known, and as one of such facsimile apparatus, a facsimile server is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 10-150462. The facsimile server converts received image data into data of the GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) format or the JPEG (Joint Photographic Coding Experts Group) format in the inside of the facsimile apparatus and offers the data as a HTML (Hyper Text Makeup Language) document so that it can be read using a WWW (World Wide Web) browser thereby to realize image outputting seamlessly without requiring a special application.
Meanwhile, an image information inputting/outputting apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 10-326288. The image information inputting/outputting apparatus includes a web browser provided in a scanner apparatus and including a management table in which URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) and set values are stored in a coordinated relationship, and a URL interpretation section for interpreting a URL. A URL inputted from a web browser of an information terminal is converted into a sat value by the URL interpretation section. The set value obtained by the conversion is set to a driving control section by a setting section, and an image is read in by the driving control section in accordance with a desired reading condition. Accordingly, operation of an image information inputting/outputting apparatus is realized seamlessly under unified environments.
However, the facsimile server and the image information inputting/outputting apparatus have the following problems.
The first problem is that a hardware resource for image conversion is required. The reason is that, while usually a facsimile apparatus holds a stored image in a coded form for saving its capacity, since it is not designed so that it can be utilized only by a terminal or an output destination, such a coding method that data obtained by the coding method can be decoded by the output destination terminal may not necessarily be adopted by the facsimile apparatus. Accordingly, in the case just described, image conversion must be performed so that the image can be utilized by the output destination terminal. However, in order to realize this, hardware resources such as a CPU and a memory must be used.
The second problem is that an unnecessary load is applied to the network. The reason is that, while usually most of images received by a facsimile apparatus are binary images of white and black, an image format wherein colors are taken into consideration is sometimes used by a terminal of an output destination. To convert a binary image into an image of a color format in order to allow handling of such a binary image is to make the information redundant, and transfer of an image obtained by such conversion applies an useless load to the network.